Former Juventus defender Mattia Caldara has announced his decision to retire from international football at 31.
In an open letter, as relayed by Gianluca Di Marzio and Football Italia, the 31-year-old Caldara announced his decision to retire and touched on the difficulties he has experienced over the years.
He also said that the move to Milan was his ‘great opportunity’.
“A blank page, a pen. I close my eyes, exhale. I open them again- now is the time. Dear football, I say goodbye. I’ve decided to stop.
“No, it wasn’t easy to make this choice. It’s not even easy to write these words. ‘Dear football, I say goodbye.’ I keep reading them over,” Caldara wrote.
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“Maybe it’s a way to accept it. To accept it a little more. Now I’ve found some peace. But it took me a while to reach this decision.
“It all started in July after a visit to a specialist: ‘Mattia, you no longer have cartilage in your ankle. If you keep playing, in a few years we’ll have to fit you with a prosthesis.’ My body had betrayed me. This time, maybe for good.”
Caldara reached his peak just before the drop. With Atalanta, he established himself as one of Italy’s most promising centre-backs, earning a move to Juventus, and then to Milan: a trajectory that seemed destined for greatness. Instead, fate handed him a silent spiral he could never escape.
